[Adam]

OK have downloaded the articles suggested above and am reading them as much as I can, now for the rest of the story. So I have a wonderful new (to me) K5 and absolutely love it and am doing my best to learn how to use it. So I have purchased two lenses for it a SMC 50-200mm zoom 1:-5.8 and an 18-55mm SMC 1:30-5.8, and have an 85mm Takumar, 135mm Takumar, and a 50mm Vivatar the last three are for my old Spotmatic. The Takumars were purchased in the early 70s and are of the finest quality, and I purchased an adapter to be able to fit them to the K5, I know I'm ahead of my self a little but I have a question, took me long enough, on the older lenses is a lever/slide mech (?), that says auto and manual. In all I have read if and when I use them I assume the auto mode is the way I set the lens to be sure to use them correctly. The question is, do I open the diagram on the lens to max f stop or try to adjust it manually? As always thank you all for such a great site and all the help. Dipo

You should set the diaphragm clutch to manual. The whole procedure is documented here:

How to use/meter Manual & M42 Lenses on all Pentax DSLRs (K-1, K-3, K-5, K-30, etc) - PentaxForums.com

Adam
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[dipo 1]

OK, dipo here, being a brick short of a load, I ordered an adapter for my M mount lenses, put it in/on my K5, screw lens in and now cannot get the adapter off. A big duh-huh moment for sure. Adapter is a Pentax adapter, I push the lens release button but the adapter will not move. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Dipo

[Adam]

This is how you would remove it:

[dipo 1]

Thank you Adam, thank you. I love my old Takumar lens and my favorite is the 85 mm. when I bought the Spotmatic the store didn't have any 50 mm and the guy said the 85 was just as good. Used it for about 10 years before I got the 50mm. Thanks again dipo.

[lazarustx]

I've been buying Pentax DSLRs since I was a young adult. Never had any formal training. I kept investing in more sophisticated Pentax Cameras and lenses until I decided to go to the local community college and take a Continuing Education course in Photography. Those were the most eye opening 8 weeks of my life. It was awesome! I learned so much about the camera and the manual settings that I can blame bad pictures on myself instead of the camera. BTW, it didn't stop my desire to keep buying hardware, but it gave me the chance to better use whatever I had in my hands. Give your local Community College a ring and see what they have for Continuing Ed or Adult learning classes.

[dipo 1]

OK Dipo here again, love my K5, love it, love it, love it, guess you could say I love it. So much I think I love it. Any-who, have been reading and downloading just about every article I have found, read all the advice I can posted here, read everything I can get my hands on. Bought a Pentax adapter, mounted my 85mm Takumar lens YEAH, EUREKA, he's back! Needless to say I'm having fun, fun, fun, in the warm Mississippi sun. THANK YOU ALL for all the great advice and help. Hopefully will be able to start posting photos for everyone to laugh at. Bye all for now Dipo. "I shall return." not to the Philippines of course.

[swanlefitte]

Glad you love it. I will drink a Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan Nut Brown Ale to that after a bourbon of course.

[mikesbike]

The K-5, though around 8 years old, which is a senior citizen in the digital world, is still a very fine camera. As you have discovered, a very important advantage is being able to change the ISO sensitivity as needed without having to change films to do so.

As to the Mode dial, I do not restrict myself in choosing whichever one I need. The one to skip is the "green" Mode, which is strictly automatic, and it is there for a friend or stranger, who knows nothing of a DSLR to temporarily take a few photos. It does not allow access to many features, so an accidental touch of certain controls will not engage the function and will not accidentally ruin the photo being taken.

The "P" Program mode is also fully automatic, but will allow access to these features and adjustments. It is great that with Pentax, your very old lenses can still be used on a modern DSLR. But, since these lenses were designed before many options that were yet to come, the "P" Mode and most other of these modes and many other features are not available for use with these lenses. To explore the full possibilities of the K-5 it will be necessary to use your newer autofocus lenses.

Tv means Time value, which is another term for shutter speed. So if you need to control your shutter speed for a specific reason, needing a particular s. speed value and the ability to alter it at any time over a lengthy period, but would like the camera to automatically adjust the aperture for proper exposure, according to changing lighting conditions coming into the frame, this is the obvious choice.

Av means Aperture value, to enable your choice of apertures according to your particular need, as in controlling the depth-of-field in your photo, but the camera will automatically control shutter speed, in the same way given for Tv Mode above.

One thing unique about Pentax is the Pentax Hyper System. In "P" mode, where the camera is setting both Tv and Av automatically, and you would rather have a different value, you can simply go ahead by using either the thumb or the finger dial and change it to what you want- that simple (Hyper Program). This will shift to Av or Tv Mode instantly, without having to employ the Mode dial first and then change to what you want. Very fast and efficient. You can change back and forth! The camera will remain so until you either hit the green button to restore full "P" operation, or shut the camera off.

In Manual mode, Hyper Manual is instantly available. By hitting the green button, you will get an instantly set meter-centered exposure. This is a very quick and easy feature. Very handy for taking spot meter readings around a scene. If you'd rather have a different Av or Tv than set by the camera, first hit the AE-L button then using your front or rear dial, go to what you wish and the other will follow along, preserving your meter-centered exposure.

[dipo 1]

Well was bound to happen, out playing with the K5 and lost the lens removal button. Saw the thread about how to repair it, looked much to complicated for me, camera is too new for me to open it up and play around with the guts. So used a paper clip for awhile, too slow. Put my thinking cap on and came up with this suggestion and it works very well. Found a small screw just slightly larger than the hole for the lens button, filed it smooth, adjusted the length until I had the right length, put it in the hole and taped over it with elec. tape. Works great, Its smooth and you would never know there is no button, can't even see it until close up. Ain't no stink on this boy!!!!

[dipo 1]

So here I am again, Yesterday I put my 18/55mm smc zoom lens on and began taking picture of my back yard. In the process I took a pic at 55mm then moved out to 18mm, when I looked at the lens it was physically in the same position as at 55mm, turned it in, turned it out same difference. View was different just the lens would move out, then in when I changed from 55 to 18, just curious. Anybody got a solution. Just seems crazy for lens to be in same physical position but different mms. thanks Dipo

[MarkJerling]

So here I am again, Yesterday I put my 18/55mm smc zoom lens on and began taking picture of my back yard. In the process I took a pic at 55mm then moved out to 18mm, when I looked at the lens it was physically in the same position as at 55mm, turned it in, turned it out same difference. View was different just the lens would move out, then in when I changed from 55 to 18, just curious. Anybody got a solution. Just seems crazy for lens to be in same physical position but different mms. thanks Dipo

Please posts some photos with the EXIF data intact.

[spinno]

So here I am again, Yesterday I put my 18/55mm smc zoom lens on and began taking picture of my back yard. In the process I took a pic at 55mm then moved out to 18mm, when I looked at the lens it was physically in the same position as at 55mm, turned it in, turned it out same difference. View was different just the lens would move out, then in when I changed from 55 to 18, just curious. Anybody got a solution. Just seems crazy for lens to be in same physical position but different mms. thanks Dipo

I presume that when you turn the lens from 55mm to 18mm there's some slight change in that the lens gets smaller in length and then goes back to being the same length.
This is normal behaviour as the glass is in a tube which moves forwards and backwards as the focal length (mm) changes.
Most importantly are your pictures in focus?

[bcp38]

What mode to shoot in really depends on what you are shooting and what type of affect you want. For a landscape where you want to get everything in focus you can shoot in aperture priority stopped down to f8 or f11 with the lens zoomed out, and use a tripod or something to hold the camera steady. Taking pics of moving water with f11 or higher aperture, low iso, and long exposure time gets you a silky effect. For stationary birds you want to be in TAv with the shutter one stop down from wide open for better sharpness, and the speed as slow as you can without showing blur from camera motion, the camera will choose the appropriate iso. With the crop factor and anti-shake that is about 1/4 of the focal length as shutter speed, so 1/25th for a 100mm lens. For sports or action or birds in motion you want the same settings, but with the lens speed fast enough to freeze the subjects motion, and the camera will adjust the iso to compensate. That is 1/1000 for most sports. For portraits you want the aperture wide open so you get a good separation from the subject and background.



Most camera lens have what is called focus breathing. The field of view is slightly different depending on if you are focusing on something close or far away. If you are focused on the same exact point and at the same exact zoom setting it should be the same though.

[mikesbike]

So here I am again, Yesterday I put my 18/55mm smc zoom lens on and began taking picture of my back yard. In the process I took a pic at 55mm then moved out to 18mm, when I looked at the lens it was physically in the same position as at 55mm, turned it in, turned it out same difference. View was different just the lens would move out, then in when I changed from 55 to 18, just curious. Anybody got a solution. Just seems crazy for lens to be in same physical position but different mms. thanks Dipo

As long as the angle of view is changing in the VF to where it should be and also in your photos, don't be concerned regarding how the physical aspects of the lens changes in getting there. Most zoom lenses will change to a greater length for longer FLs, and then shorten again when zoomed back to a lesser FL. Most also will lengthen and shorten when focused, according to the distance focused onto. But this is not always the case, according to the lens design.

Sometimes a lens will get to a longer physical size at the widest setting, and be shortest in the mid FL, then get longer again at the most tele FL. Lens designs do vary considerably.

My often-used Pentax DA 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6, for example, changes physical size in the most common fashion when zoomed, but when in AF mode nothing of the lens's exterior changes at all- not even does the focus ring move. So you don't have to watch your finger position during AF, and AF is silent, very fast, and very accurate. You just hear the beep when focus is achieved, and see the lit indication in the VF. This is a fine, versatile, high-performing lens worthy of serious consideration for all-around versatile use. With my pro-style Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8, a wonderful lens, nothing moves at all on the lens's exterior either when zooming or when focusing, and there is no change in its physical size whatsoever! AF is utterly silent and very accurate. The focus info is shown through a window on the lens. Since the lens is compact for what it is, it is still not, and cannot be a small lens, so this design is greatly appreciated for handling and for holding during use. A great physical and operational, as well as optical design.

[dipo 1]

OK, Dipo here, have been trying to figure out how to upload some photos, but cqn't find a post or article explaining how. When I copy and paste photo is large, very large, and I can't figure out how to shrink it to a reasonable size. Can someone please help?